While the world may be going gaga over all the next generation game content being developed using Epic's Unreal 3 engine there's one company that is creating what could be something very, very special. The company is Naked Sky Entertainment (comprised of several MIT programmers and seasoned artists) and the game is called RoboBlitz. The game is being developed for Xbox Live Arcade in mind, oddly enough with a full package that will weigh in at a mere 50 MB when it is complete. Now you may be thinking, how can an Unreal 3 engine game of any worth weigh in at 50 MB? Well, Naked Sky designed the game from the ground up for digital distribution through Xbox Live Arcade and online through digital distribution networks like Valve's Steam - plus Microsoft requires that all Xbox Live Arcade games weigh 50 MB or under, so it's not like they had too much of a choice..

But here's the thing that's important: at first glance, the game doesn't look or play like anything that has landed on Xbox Live Arcade thus far. That's because the key focus of RoboBlitz is in using a physics simulation that adheres to the laws of physics (for real) in conjunction with the power and the beauty afforded by Epic's Unreal 3 engine.

In RoboBlitz you take on the role of a maintenance robot named Blitz, who spends his days toiling away on an abandoned orbital defense outpost (basically a giant rail gun hovering in space). Life on this sprawling station is relatively uneventful until one fateful day when the base is suddenly invaded by wacky space pirates who have some nefarious plan in mind for this giant mega weapon. It's up to Blitz to get the station in order and defend it against these invaders using the environment, objects and a handful of special weapons and tools.

The first thing to be noted is that Blitz and all the other characters in the game do not rely on any kind of animation system. Instead the game's character movement is controlled by an advanced physics simulation. This makes for more fluid and realistic movement for all involved. Blitz moves on a motorized ball that he rolls around on to zip from one point to another at a fairly fast pace. For arm movement he utilizes servos that control movement, weapons systems he has available and for picking up objects in the game. Since there's no animation involved when you pick up an object the character will react accordingly - weight and size plays a role that you'll notice as you move Blitz around. Finally Blitz has a shock absorption system to lesson the impact of landing from a jump. This system is a set of physical springs that you can see working as you play.

The game is played in a third-person perspective so the designers have created a simple Heads Up Display (HUD) that is melded into the character rather than taking up space on the screen. This is yet another indicator that this game is being developed with the next-generation in mind. The HUD is represented as two bars on Blitz's back side that detail both health and energy used for weapon and tool systems. Since the HUD isn't taking up any real-estate, you'll get a clear screen of Blitz and whatever action he's engaged in at the time, along with a reticule you'll use to target objects, enemies and the environment itself.

So what does Blitz do besides roll around and pick things up? Well he's armed with a variety of upgradeable weapons and tools that allow him to do a myriad of things. Blitz has a basic spin attack that he can use to simply plow through multiple enemies. This attack can be further enhanced by picking up and object and spinning around while holding it to do extra damage. Then there's the basic stun gun ala the EMP rifle. It's a steady little gun with a decent fire rate. Players can also opt to simply pick up an object and use it like a baseball bat. Depending on the object you can also use it as a sort of makeshift shield, which is handy in those more harrowing fire fights.

Other interesting armaments include the Suck Mortar, a shoulder fired launcher that creates a temporary gravitational vortex that sucks objects in and the Pulse Canon, which is a more precise gun that does a fairly decent amount of damage.

But the most exciting weapon revealed in the game is the Firework launcher. Now before you think great, sparklers - how lame.. the Firework launcher is much more powerful. Basically it's a rocket launcher that sends enemies up into the sky on contact. To be a little more to the point, you fire a missile at an enemy, it connects, sends them shooting upward like a bottle rocket and then climaxes in a fireworks-like explosion. Talking about this weapon doesn't really do it justice - you have to see it in action to full enjoy it..

There's also a number of unique tools that can be used to manipulate the environment to solve puzzles, affect objects and use the environment as a weapon against enemies. One such tool is the Point to Point Beam or P2P. The P2P allows you to attach objects in unique ways. First you fire a little yellow tracer beam to one object and then fire it again at something else to chain them together. For example, you could fire at a barrel or enemy and then connect it to a nearby wall. This will create an elastic-like electrical connector. The elastic works with the physics system to make an object slam into a wall or dangle there helplessly. Or you could use this same method to chain multiple objects together - imagine connecting four barrels together and then connecting them to two walls to create a chain of objects that bounce wildly.

You can do the same to enemies - attach a node to a drone and then connect it to a wall or an environmental hazard and watch it smash into it with great affect or chain a bunch of drones together and watch them go crazy bumping into each other and eventually exploding. The possibilities really are endless. You can also use this unique weapon to create weapons from objects lying around. like connecting two barrels together and then picking one up and swinging it wildly. This will cause the second one to swing around like it was on a chain.